Wolves lose battle

The Wolves opened up their three-game home stand Wednesday night with a hard-fought 4-2 loss against their divisional rivals, the Brampton Battalion. 

More than 200 fans made the trek from North Bay to get a preview of their new team as the Battalion will be relocating to North Bay for the 2013-14 season. The move was made official Wednesday evening as it was announced at the game that the city of North Bay was successful in reaching its goal of selling 2,000 season tickets.

The Wolves came flying out of the gate in the first and got out to an early 1-0 lead when Josh Leivo fired a shot past Matej Machovsky 1:34 into the frame. Both teams’ netminders closed the door for the remainder of the period, as the teams headed into the break with the Wolves up by one.

It didn’t take long for the Battalion to pull even in the second, as Mike Amadio fired home his first OHL goal on the power play 1:46 into the second period. The Battalion took the lead at the 9:42 mark of the second when Barclay Goodrow received a breakaway pass and went on to beat Joel Vienneau five hole. Nathan Pancel tied things up at two heading into the break when he banged home a power play marker off the end boards with 2:27 remaining.

The third frame remained scoreless until the 8:36 mark of the third when Blake Clarke buried his sixth of the season to restore the Battalion's one-goal lead. Matt McLeod extended the Battalion's lead to two with 5:58 remaining in the third frame when he fired a shot glove side that fooled Vienneau.

The Wolves will be back in action Friday night at home when the Sarnia Sting make their one and only visit to the Sudbury Community Arena this season. The game will be a rematch of last Sunday’s contest in Sarnia where the Wolves lost by a score of 3-2. Puck drop is at 7:35 p.m.